Special levies (derramas) in a Spanish community of owners: who pays and what majority is needed

Every owner is obliged “to contribute, according to the share set in the title deed or to what has been specially established, to the general expenses for the proper upkeep of the property, its services, charges and liabilities that cannot be individualised” (art. 9.1.e). The share is expressed in hundredths of the value of the property and is the basis for sharing out charges and benefits (art. 3).

General expenses are those that cannot be attributed to one or more units or premises, and “not using a service” does not exempt anyone from paying for it (art. 9.2).

Works needed to preserve the building and its services, and the universal accessibility works the law declares mandatory, “shall not require a prior agreement of the owners' meeting” (art. 10.1). In that case the owners pay for them, and the meeting only decides “how the relevant special levy is shared out and the terms of its payment” (art. 10.2.a).

• No owner can demand new installations, services or improvements that are not needed for proper upkeep, habitability, safety and accessibility (art. 17.4).
• If they are approved with the vote in favour of three fifths of the owners representing three fifths of the shares, and an owner's installation charge exceeds three ordinary monthly payments of common expenses, an owner who disagreed is not bound and their share does not change (art. 17.4).
• “Special levies to pay for improvements made or to be made in the property shall be borne by whoever is the owner when the amounts assigned to paying for those improvements become due” (art. 17.11).

The buyer is liable, with the property itself, for the amounts the previous owners owed the community, up to the amounts attributable to the elapsed part of the year of purchase and the three previous calendar years (art. 9.1.e). The seller must declare that they are up to date or state what they owe, and provide a debt certificate issued by the secretary, approved by the president, within a maximum of seven calendar days.

The community must have a reserve fund (fondo de reserva) for maintenance, repair and renovation works, and for the accessibility and energy efficiency works of arts. 10.1.b and 17.2. It must hold an amount that “may in no case be less than 10 per cent of its last ordinary budget” (art. 9.1.f).

The community can claim common expenses, ordinary or extraordinary, and the reserve fund through the special order for payment procedure (proceso monitorio) (art. 21.2). The steps, with templates, are in our guide on owners in arrears.